We get up pulling our pants back up and he resumes cooking while I watch. 

Karim walks in about 20 minutes later with bags of alcohol in his hand. We act casual as if we didn't almost just smash right in his kitchen. I wonder if Karim ever found out about that. I always wanted to mention it to him but I never got the chance. 

All of a sudden, a little boy walks in. He looks like he is ten years old or something.

"Hey Dawould"  Zayaan says to him.

"Hi," he says, a little awkwardly and shyly but with bright eyes and a boyish smile. He looks so innocent. I can't. Karim isn't in the room so Zayaan introduces me to the boy, "This is my girlfriend Ji Eun".

"Hi Ji Eun", he says sheepishly.

"He is Karim's younger brother". 

"Oh okay,"  I say. "Nice to meet you".

His brother is adorable honestly. I notice that his hair looks kind of different from Karim's. Their hair looked kind of different. His little brother's hair looked a little darker. Or maybe it never occurred to me that Karim just dyes his hair blond I don't know. The half Indian half-white genes developed cute kids though.

Karim walks in and we are all talking to each other.

"How was school Dawoud?"

"It was good" dawoud responds innocently. 

Dawoud and I are standing right next to each other at some point. Karim mentions, "Look at the kiddies" referring to me too. He has a big smile on his face. "You and the kid are the same height". Like he finds it so adorable or something.

Dawoud ends up leaving and I never see him again. I think his dad probably picked him up for that doctor's appointment. 

Karim finishes up with the steak and once it is done they start carrying plates and the food out there. The pasta is still getting ready so we leave it on the stove.

I try to help by carrying some glasses of water and plates to the table too but they do most of the grunt work. 

Then Karim takes the alcohol and places it on the table outside in their backyard.

We all go sit down in the backyard. I grab a fork and start digging into the mashed potatoes. It tastes delicious! I can't get over how good it tastes. Especially mixed in with the vegetables. Zayaan is the reason that I found out about mashed potatoes in the first place and how delicious they are. 

I take a few bites of the steak too. It tastes good but I like the mashed potatoes even more for some reason. I don't know why I am not eating the steak as much since that's like everyone's desired food item that people really want. I heard steak is pretty expensive too. 

I think Zayaan notices that I am mostly just eating the mashed potatoes because he asks me "You don't like the steak?"

No I like it. Looking back, I am realizing that I am too nice. Was my self-esteem that low that I felt uncomfortable even eating food that a guy cooked for me at his place? I would go all the way to New Jersey for my ex and let him smash me and I would feel so excited about him buying me food. No, I deserved that food that he bought me after all that I did for him, letting him go inside of my body and all that. Maybe now I don't feel comfortable letting guys buy me food because I don't smash them but maybe if I did, I would feel like they should because I will become the baby at that point and would start seeing him as the dominant provider type. Maybe my need to feel provided for would come out at that point

Zayaan helps me finish eating the steak. He puts some in the mouth for me and eats some too. I love it. It is pretty hard to eat though since it's harder but the mashed potatoes are softer. 

Then, Karim takes out the alcohol and pours it into the glasses and Zayaan and Karim start sipping on the alcohol. I am honestly a little disappointed that they did not offer me alcohol. I kind of want to feel tipsy too. Zayaan goes in to check on the pasta. He takes some time in there and comes back saying, "The water went over the pot". Wow I thought that was only something that I struggled with. It makes sense though since we were sitting out here eating and not paying attention to the pasta boiling. I go back in with him and watch him mix in red sauce in it. Oh, so that is how he likes his pasta. Then he brings it out and we eat it. Honestly, the pasta tastes kind of plain if I am being completely frank. It just tastes like pasta with some pasta sauce over it. The pasta my dad makes tastes way better!

Once we are done eating, Karim asks, "Should we head out?"

"Okay," Zayaan says.

"We better hide the alcohol first. They take the alcohol bottles and trash them in the bags outside. I never realized that Karim had a strict dad like that who does not allow underage drinking especially considering that Karim was so close to being 21 years old. Maybe like half a year. Or maybe his dad just doesn't like drinking in the house in general. Who knows. Karim be wilding out smashing and acting like an alcoholic that I never bothered thinking maybe he has parents who mind that stuff.